Google Maps Car Did Not Flip Over As Street Views Suggests

Jul 8, 2010 - 8:39 am 0 by
Filed Under Misc Google

Yesterday afternoon, I was using street views to research some locations around my office and I spotted something weird. I was driving up Route 202 and it then appeared that the Street Views camera on top of the Google Maps Car started falling off the car.

I quickly made a video of it happening and posted at Search Engine Land. Here is the video:

Here is a before and after picture:

Google Maps Street View Cam Fell

Google Maps Street View Cam Fell

Google sent us a statement later on that the camera did not strike the floor. Instead it either titled downwards or a screw or something got loose. But it did not hit the floor, nor did the car flip over (not that I thought the car flipped over). Here is Google's statement:

Our Street View cameras are built on a mast that is able to be raised/lowered/angled by our car drivers — for things like going under bridges/overpasses, to more easily do camera tweaking, or when storing overnight. So it looks like in this case, the mast may have tilted or come a bit loose – the camera did not actually “fall off”, and nobody was injured! (In fact, every few months a story will circulate about us “hitting an overpass” because the images show the camera suddenly at strange angles under a bridge, but it’s actually because the driver did his duty and lowered/tilted it, but may not have shut off the camera from still photographing).

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 1, 2024

Nov 1, 2024 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Update Coming Soon, Downgrading Content, AI Overviews Expands, ChatGPT Search, Volatility Continues & Unauthorized Ad Rep Changes

Nov 1, 2024 - 8:01 am
Google Updates

Halloween 2024 Google Search Ranking Update 👻

Nov 1, 2024 - 7:51 am
Other Search Engines

OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Search: Citations, Robots.txt Controls & More

Nov 1, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google AI Answers In Google Maps: Things To Do, Review Summaries & About This Place

Nov 1, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

Google Tests Discover More Places & Explore Places Nearby

Nov 1, 2024 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Fixed The AdSense Logout Bug?